Religion and breakups. Did we do the right thing?

I apologize for the long post, but I want to make sure you guys get the entire back story.

So my boyfriend of 2+ years and I broke up yesterday. It was about religion, which has caused conflict throughout our entire relationship so far, but we’ve always been able to ride it out. The thing is, we have been thinking about marriage a lot lately. I’m a christian (methodist) and he’s not saved, but has grown up in a strictly southern baptist family.

He decided that he wants a good, christian (southern baptist) home and that if we were to get married then we probably wouldn’t have that. Personally, I think the two denominations aren’t all that different, and because of this I would be willing to convert to southern baptist if we got married as well as raise our children in that denomination. It’s even not so bad because I think raising them with a stricter set of beliefs is better than another alternative: raising them with beliefs that are completely liberal compared to mine (Also, I can see where he’s coming from with wanting a southern baptist home). He disagrees on the two denominations’ similarities though; subsequently, he disagrees that my converting to being baptist would work out.

On my side of the story, I cannot marry someone who is unequally yoked. It is clear in the Bible that a believer marrying an unbeliever will not have a good marriage and I’ve seen this played out in many marriages. I’ve seen some marriages where it does work out, but (not to put anyone down! This is my experience… if yours is different, I would love to know.) it seems like the believer in those relationships values the marriage over their faith, something I am not comfortable doing.

I believe that if he were saved, he would see things different. Just last Sunday we were at his church and his pastor mentioned that christians see each other family—and from what I’ve seen, this is true. Christians normally have no trouble identifying those of similar faith.

So here’s our resolution: We broke up, realizing these differences are probably not going to resolve themselves on their own. This would be an easy decision, except that we’re both still in love with each other. Deeply in love. So we’re going to stay friends and both work on our faith. He’s going to really explore his faith and I’m going to work on becoming closer to God. The moment he gets saved, he said he will call me up and we’ll talk and go from there.

My questions for you are these:
– Can you think of any better resolution?
– Staying friends… is that the right thing to do? It’s funny; this doesn’t feel like an end at all, just a large pause. But is it good (or even right) for us to put the relationship on hold but still have such strong feelings for one another?
– I already miss him terribly. Advice on feeling better?

This discussion is NOT intended for a debate on religion.